Panchkula DEO, BEOs among 7 booked for fraud

They filed “false” complaints by misusing the names of their colleagues and putting their signatures fraudulently to implicate him and others for “raising voice against corruption in the education department”

The Yamunanagar police registered an FIR against the Panchkula district education officer (DEO), a block education officer (BEO), a retired BEO and four employees of the education department under the charges of forgery and others, said officials on Thursday.

The accused hatched a conspiracy and formed a “fake” organisation — Haryana School Education Officers Association (Registered).

As per the FIR, those booked have been identified as DEO Satpal Kaushik (Yamunanagar former DEO), Bilaspur BEO Prem Lata, retired Sadhaura BEO Akhtar Ali, Salim, a govt school principal, Raj Kumar Sharma, a retired principal, Parveen Kumar Gupta and Anil Kumar Gupta, both PGT (fine arts).

The complainant, Bhupinder Kumar, alleged that the accused hatched a conspiracy and formed a “fake” organisation — Haryana School Education Officers Association (Registered). They filed “false” complaints by misusing the names of their colleagues and putting their signatures fraudulently to implicate him and others for “raising voice against corruption in the education department”.

Kumar said, “A complaint was also filed before education minister Kanwar Pal, who forwarded the same to the superintendent of police for necessary action, without verifying the facts or the association.”

In his statement, Kumar claimed, “The head of the association, Mukesh Kumar Sharma, also confessed that false complaints were made by the accused only to create undue pressure on complainants and the victims, to cause them financial, physical and mental undue harm and to implicate them in false police and departmental cases.”

A case was registered under Sections 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC at Yamunanagar city police station on Wednesday.